


Yellow

by Pennaguinne



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Awkward Romance, Crushes, F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Girl pursues guy, Gourmet Hunter Reader, Humor, Hunter Exam (Hunter X Hunter), It will get dark in the future, More tags as I go, Not Beta Read, One-Sided Attraction, Reader crushes on Kurapika but ya know how he be, Reader names her cooking utensils because she has no friends, Reader-Insert, Thats actually kinda depressing, reader is a female, reader is blunt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:41:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26127412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pennaguinne/pseuds/Pennaguinne
Summary: You went into the exam aspiring to become a gourmet hunter. Cooking was your lifeline and your cooking utensils were your friends. You didn't need anyone to reach your goal, definitely didn't need friends, and you definitely did not feel attracted to a certain blonde with his cute laughter and silky yellow hair and the sweetest smiles-okay maybe a little bit.
Relationships: Kurapika (Hunter X Hunter)/Reader, Reader/Other(s), Reader/Undecided
Comments: 17
Kudos: 88





	1. Chapter 1

You felt your blouse cling to your skin, the heat of the sun practically blazing against your back. The tall buildings weren't doing much to shield you from the sun; they just towered over your form intimidatingly. The giant backpack on your back was also not doing much to help with the whole sweating situation. Your combed down your hair with your fingers in hopes of fixing their dishevelled state, and there wasn't much you could do about your reddened (probably sweaty) face. You smoothed down your blue knee-length skirt covered in sunflowers and yellow blouse and entered the tiny diner. The sizzling sound of cooking oil met your ears, as the chef welcomed you into the diner. The lighting was dim, and the air felt humid, you could smell five spice and soy sauce drizzled pork. Caramelized onions and various herbs, your mouth watered, and you resisted the urge to taste everything on the menu. That was a bad habit you needed to control, and you might as well start now. You took a deep breath and immediately spoke the lines the examiner had given you.

"I'd like an illuminating steak set lunch. Grilled with low heat and roasted carefully until it's well done". You spoke carefully, making sure not to mess up any wordings. The chef immediately glanced up with a knowing smile.

"Alright, have a seat." you cheered internally when your code was received as you made your way towards the very back room. Actually, you stopped midway, " because the smell in this place is so exquisite, I'd like to order a bowl of Miso ramen on my way there." The chef laughed and obliged to your order, after paying and receiving your bowl you skipped to your destination. Okay, well, this was still an improvement from ordering everything on the menu; you just ordered one thing. Progress dare you say? 

You entered the room in the very back of the diner, into a smaller room with a round dining table with three chairs, a standard diner private room. This was it, right? The examiner had told you it was the backroom in the diner, never telling you any other information after that. Was this another test? You honestly did not feel like doing any more brain quizzes. You closed the door and started looking around for a hidden passageway into the exam. Maybe you made a mistake with your code? Or did you ruin the code by ordering other food? The room suddenly shook, and you almost stumbled with your bowl. You sighed in relief when you realized it was an elevator disguised as a room. With that in mind, you took a whiff of the scent of the miso ramen. It smelled like homemade food, something your dad would make you if you were feverish. 

As you were daydreaming, the elevator had reached the final floor. The high-pitched 'DING' echoed throughout the elevator, welcoming you to your destination, and the doors slowly opened. You could feel your heart beating against your ribcage as you walked out of the elevator. It was a tunnel, a sickly green colour, all along the walls of the tunnel were red lights and different sized wire-like tubes. The atmosphere felt gloomy and intense. You could feel the eyes of hundreds of people all on you at once as you made your way inside. Analyzing you and raking your form over, you heard a "You lost honey?" from someone in the crowd, followed by laughter from others. You ignored them walking in what you hoped was confidently, but being the only person who had ordered food from the diner, you did seem out of place. Not to mention your brightly coloured frilly clothes, but hey, what can you say? You liked looking good on any occasion. Before you could walk deeper into the tunnel, you were stopped by a small green man in a suit handing out round stickers with numbers.

"Here is your number," he said with a constant state of happiness. You resisted the urge to pat him on his shiny green head as you took your sticker with the number '395' in black curved lettering. "Please stick it on your chest and never lose it." You thanked him and stuck it on your left breast. As you walked further in, you felt overwhelmingly giddy for making it into the hunter's exams. The chances of actually making into the exam was one in a ten thousand, and here you were in all your dressed-up glory. Walking in mary janes like you weren't about to endure various death traps or physical work. You decided to put down your backpack, which probably weighed as much as your body, if not more, with all your supplies. You sat down on your knees, making sure your skirt wasn't flashing everyone, lady-like just how your mother had taught you. You broke up the chopstick that was given with the miso ramen soup and got ready to dive in. The first bite and the noodles were too rubbery, and the taste wasn't as good as the ones your dad would make, but you had anticipated this from a small diner. No one could come close to your dads cooking. The use of herbs and spices made up for the lack of texture, and watery soup-you paused mid-chew when you heard heavy footsteps coming your way. You looked up to see a tubby man, greased back brown hair, stubble on the chin, and equally tubby nose with small eyes. His mouth stretched into a friendly smile, and he was holding a can of orange juice in your direction.

"Hey, I've never seen you around before, some juice will go great with your bowl" His eyes seemed to rake down your form as he spoke. Although he looked like a pervert, he was giving you free pop. Being given free food or drinks was one of the few things to win your attention. Only for a couple of minutes, though. "Names Tonpa, you're here for the hunters exam, right?" You took the can of juice from his tubby hands. 

"Thanks. Yes, I am and nice to meet you," you told him your name, and continued to eat your soup as he took a seat beside you. 

"I'm somewhat a veteran at the hunter's exams, and you can ask me anything you're interested in." he scratched his cheek in embarrassment as he said his next words, "I've repeated 35 times, so I've been through it all." That's a bit sad. Perhaps the exams were as hard as everyone made it out to be. You paused in your eating, thinking about the question you wanted answered most.

"Will I be able to find good ingredients?" your eyes sparkled in anticipation, it was one of the only reasons you wanted to get a hunters license. It will make it easier for you to find undiscovered or rare ingredients, plus you could find a job at a high-class restaurant or work for celebrities as their personal chef. Tonpas face went blank, and he looked like he was deep in thought until he shook his head.

"I'm not sure about that, but how about I tell you about the contestants instead?-" 

"No, it's alright, thanks for the juice." you waved him off like he was some bug, as you bluntly hinted at him to leave.

"Ah..okay then," he seemed perplexed by your behaviour as he got up and left you alone to enjoy your miso ramen soup. 

The elevator dinged and a couple more people filed in, you weren't paying attention to your surroundings. The ramens egg yolks were supposed to be a bit runny, but the eggs seemed to have boiled for too long. You shook your head; you were way too critical, you had to give the chef some brownie points since he was the only person cooking all the food, many ordinary people struggled to cook various dishes by themselves. You took the can of orange juice Tonpa had given you, and scanned the ingredients list on the back, deciding to open your can of orange juice and take a sip. The artificial taste of orange isn't something you would usually go for, plus it was lukewarm, which made it not taste as good as drinking it cold would feel, especially after a hot meal. Also, the extra added ingredient was ruining the flavour. 

You placed your miso ramen soup on the ground beside your giant backpack, not like anyone would be able to steal it. You stood up, dusted your skirt and made your way to Tonpa, who was chatting away happily with a spiky green-haired kid all dressed in green, holding a fishing rod. Beside him was a blonde dressed in some traditional clothes, you found the clothes familiar but couldn't remember from where. There was also an old businessman with tiny black glasses. Strange crew, were they a family? You disregarded them to give your critique.

"Excuse me, Tonpa" everyone turned to you as you held the canned juice in your hand. "It seems the orange juice you had given me has some unfamiliar ingredient added into it in large doses. It ruins the flavour of the juice. Plus, it is not listed on the ingredient list on the back, so it must have been added in by someone's hand. I want to return your gift. Goodbye." you handed your canned orange juice off and made your way back to your untouched miso ramen soup. Yes, that was quite a disrespectful move, especially after being given a gift, however being given something consumable that had been tempered was equally rude, especially if they weren't able to make it taste delicious! As you were distracted, you bumped into a little kid with fluffy white hair, holding a skateboard, you apologized quickly, surprised that another child was in the hunter's exams. You also wanted to pat him on his cloud-like hair. He looked up at you with his innocent aqua eyes, and you smiled down at him. 

"Watch where you're going fatty," he said before walking off disinterested. You tilted your head at his insult, sure you did eat a lot mostly to analyze and critique each food, but you weren't fat. The daily exercise regime your mom had put you on as a child was proof of that. Perhaps he was looking to get a reaction out of someone, or maybe you did gain a couple pounds. You shrugged it off and went back to finish your average tasting soup. 

You weren't sure how long had passed, you had finished your miso ramen soup, and now it was placed on the ground beside you as you read the book that you brought with you—a recipe book on desserts. 

A sound of a bell rang through the tunnel. Everyone looked to the front of the tunnel; the sound was coming from behind the stone wall. It started to vibrate and rise, making the place shake a bit. And it revealed an even deeper tunnel that was pitch black. In the centre stood a tall man with a purple suit, and the most curled moustache you had ever seen. He clicked the button of his little machine where the ringing was resounding from, and the room went silent. 

"Sorry to keep you waiting for so long-" you wondered how he was speaking without a mouth, "We have come to the end of the exam registration. And so the Hunter Exam begins now" you could feel the atmosphere of the people around you spike in excitement and relief at his words. He continued to explain that people could sustain injuries or even die during these exams, but his words made everyone in the room more determined instead of fearful.

Just at that moment, the examiner started marching forward into the tunnel, making everyone follow him. You grabbed your backpack, apologizing to the bowl on the ground for leaving it behind and ran alongside the other contestants. He introduced himself as Satoz and explained that the first phase had already begun, and he would be taking everyone to the second phase. The whole run all you contemplated was the fact that he didn't have a mouth. Because if he didn't have a mouth, how could he eat or drink, did he have a little mouth behind his moustache. Could his moustache be his mouth?! 

You jogged a bit forward with your giant backpack to attempt to glance at Satoz's face; you got a couple glances of shock, but you ignored them. Sure, you were terrible at running in the heat or humidity since all you could focus on was eating something cold, but in this environment, it was easy. Although you still weren't fast as the people in the front, and Satoz was pretty quick with his strides, so you'd have to look closer at his face once this phase was over. Plus, you had a somewhat filling meal which slowed you down a bit, although you could have gone for a couple more bowls but alas, exams and such. 

"HOW ARE YOU CARRYING THAT THING!" a scream came from beside you, and you looked at the old businessman who was running shirtless, breathing hard and sweating even harder. When he looked at your face, his tone seemed to do a 180, "Oh sorry, darling, I didn't mean to yell at you." the blonde beside him that was in all white-must have taken off his traditional blue tunic- glanced at him in boredom. 

"That's alright. I'm used to being yelled at," you smiled. Yes, your parents were quite strict. That earned you some concerned looks from them. And since you didn't specify the reason, it made things more awkward, so you decided to move forward. You weren't used to talking to so many different people in one day, since you spent most of your life with your parents, cooking or travelling. Not like you wanted to be around more people, your cooking tools were your best friends. 

An hour into the exam and Satoz was marching full speed, and everyone was running at this point, and many were having a hard time keeping up. You looked up from your recipe book to glance at the guy that suddenly passed out beside you, poor man. Then you zoned out everyone from that point on, too distracted on how to make matcha macaroons. 80km into the tunnel, and you had already read all of the recipes. Many people had dropped out from exhaustion, and Satoz decided to torture everyone more by casually marching up the long flight of stairs like it was a walk in the park. Half an hour in and there was finally light from the tunnel, and you felt excitement for this tedious phase to be over. You watched as the white-haired boy from before ran past Satoz along with the boy with green hair. Those kids were definitely not normal to be able to run past Satoz. 

As you made it out of the tunnel, you almost cheered out loud, but you coughed from exhaustion. The rest of the contestants started to catch up, every one of them breathing hard from the workout. Everyone stood around on the green field; at least forty people had dropped out just from the first phase. You couldn't blame them; running is very dull. The surrounding area was concealed by mist, but it started to dissipate to reveal a vast swamp. Swindlers Swamp is what Satoz had called it, it had undiscovered and dangerous-you didn't care enough to listen as you focused on the plants around the area. You crouched near a bush of flowers, sadly none of them seemed to be of the edible sort. You were sure you saw an eyeball on one of the flowers. It blinked at you, and you blinked back. You were sure it growled at you in warning, so you decided to leave it alone. 

"Don't fall for it!" you made your way back to the crowd, where the commotions had gathered. You should have paid attention from the beginning since now you were perplexed at the whole situation. The newcomer pulled out a monkey that looked like Satoz. Could Satoz be a monkey man? Still, why didn't he have a mouth?! 

Suddenly the random man got pierced by playing cards; I guess you could say he got a ROYAL FLASH of his life. Haha... a bit of a grim joke on your part, you apologized internally to the random man. Satoz, in turn, managed to capture the cards with ease throwing them away. Pretty cool for a monkey man with no mouth. 

You glanced at the man dressed in clown attire that threw the razor-sharp cards and had to do a double-take, when did he get into the exam? (Also, was anyone else hearing the excited strumming of a guitar?) You looked around you, and the atmosphere had gotten tense again. The clown explained the hunter committee, and you were too distracted by the fact that such a colourful character went unnoticed by you. Satoz then gave a warning to clown man, that if he used violence again, he would get disqualified. The clown man didn't seem threatened at all; it was like he enjoyed the whole show. You zoned out the rest of the phase as you ran through the swamp, avoiding giant beastly animals and plants that were devouring contestants. You were highly disappointed that you couldn't find anything interesting in this swamp to use in your cooking. 

There were many screams throughout the wetland, and running in the mud was challenging for you. You almost slipped a couple of times, plus the fog was starting to build up, so it made it extra challenging to follow the group. You somehow ended up off the track with a group of people, and a line up of strawberries almost cut you. Luckily you had managed to avoid it, but the corner of your backpack got cut. 

You stopped when you saw no one in the fog, and you had to listen to footsteps to follow along. You jogged up beside the two people and realized it was the businessman and traditional guy. They looked startled to see you right beside them, so you explained yourself. 

"Hello, is it alright if I stick with you guys. I almost got lost and killed by strawberries." you smiled and explained like it was an everyday occurrence. They looked at each other for a second, and you weren't sure if they were using telepathy, but Leorio's expression turned to a smile, so they must have agreed on something, and they nodded at you simultaneously. You introduced yourself, and they followed along. 

"Names Leorio" the man you called businessman said, "I would shake your hand miss, but it's a bit hard to do that right now." he winked at you, was he flirting with you? You've never been flirted with before and weren't sure if he was, so you just nodded. 

"My name is Kurapika," the blonde didn't say anymore. You weren't sure, but you felt unease coming from him; maybe it was the current situation or your presence. Although since you're here, you might as well ask about his blue robe you saw from before. 

"Are you from some clan?" you asked, "Your robe from before it seemed familiar, but I wasn't sure where" His expression showed surprise. 

"I'm from the Kurta clan." oh so that's why it seemed familiar, you grinned at him with excitement. 

"I've visited your village with my dad when I was a child. The dishes there were tasty, the way they made bread is so unique compared to the modern way! I remember the people used mud to build an oven? Plus the feast to celebrate a new year was so much fun! You're so lucky!" you gushed over the cooking methods and the place some more but had to stop since the blonde was starting to look sad instead of tense. Was it something you said? 

"So, why do you want to become a hunter?" Leorio cut into the thick tension, smiling at you, it felt reassuring to know he wasn't upset by you.

Your eyes sparkled at the chance of talking about cooking. "I'm aiming to be a gourmet hunter; I'd like to create a unique dish that has never been done before with undiscovered ingredients that I forage myself." you paused when you thought more about your goal "Although first I'd like more experience in the workplace so I'll probably aim to work for a high-class mansion as a chef or sous-chef-" 

"Oh, that explains a lot," the blonde chimed into the conversation to your surprise. Maybe he hadn't been upset by your words, since his body language was less tense. Then again, you weren't sure, and you were terrible at reading body language sometimes. 

"Leorio, Kurapika! Killua said it's better to move to the front!" you heard a child's voice shout somewhere in the front of the fog. 

"Stupid If I could go any faster, I'd be at the front for sure!" Leorio yelled back. 

"Don't worry about us, go ahead!" Kurapika added, reassuring the child. It felt like they all had some kindship, were they a family? 

Your confused expression must have shown since Leorio explained who the children were. The green-haired boy's name was Gon, and the three of them met on a boat, and they met the white-haired boy who was named Killua during the tunnel phase. They were all now friends, apparently. You weren't sure how people could become friends so quickly. Couple minutes in, and the fog was starting to get thicker again.

"If we can't keep up, we'll lose the direction," Kurapika said worry in his tone. 

"As long as we follow the people in front, we won't lose the direction," Leorio replied, reassuring him. You stared at their interaction in awe, is that what friends do? When one is worried, the others make them feel better?

Suddenly they both stopped, and you stopped alongside them; you looked to the front realizing the once silhouettes of people in the fog disappeared. Then you noticed the floating strawberries from before; those things that almost killed you. One of the contestants at the front was swooped away, and the fog cleared a bit, showing a giant tortoise with strawberries growing out of its back. People in the front were rushing away as more of those tortoises showed up. Kurapika and Leorio were back to back as you stared at the tortoise before feeling the adrenaline spike. Before, when it seemed like the berries were attacking you, they felt impossible to defeat, but now that it's been revealed to be a giant tortoise creature, they didn't seem as powerful. 

If those strawberries are edible, you were about to find out. 

You put down your backpack and reached for your favourite tool, Mr.Phoenix. Your flamethrower, it was great to make huge batches of food, whether it was skewered meat, creme brulee, or fondue. Anytime cheese needs melting, Mr.Phoenix aids you. 

"IS THAT WHAT YOU'VE BEEN CARRYING?!" Leorio screamed, backing away as you held your flamethrower casually.

"Yeah, I also have a chainsaw for cutting meat and a-" you didn't get to finish the list of tools as Leorio screamed again. 

"-WHY ARE THE PEOPLE HERE ALL ABNORMAL!?" he continued his complaints. Kurapika was quiet, but he looked a bit disturbed too. You ignored both of them as you put on your metal mask on for safety purposes and got prepared for work. You turned to them beforehand.

"You guys should get out. Once I get started with Mr. Phoenix, you guys need to be out of my perimeter or else you'll get caught in the flames. I don't dislike you guys, so I'd rather not have to look at you skewered. " You warned them your voice muffled behind your mask.

"You like me, huh~" Leorio flirted(?), but then his mood flipped real quick when your words fully registered. "MR WHAT?! SKEWERED!? HUH!?" Kurapika just nodded at your words and pulled at Leorio's arm; they ran right as you turned on your flamethrower.

Ten minutes in and the tortoise was burned to a crisp; you made sure the strawberries on its shell were safe. You managed to cut the fruits off from their stems and wrapped them in a cheesecloth bag to store away for future use. Sadly the other tortoises escaped before they were able to meet their maker. But it was alright since you had plenty of strawberries to use for various recipes. Now came another challenge; Being lost. The fog was thick, and you couldn't make out your surroundings, there was no silhouette of a human or any voices around you. You were terrible with directions, so you couldn't even remember which way you were previously running. That was why you followed Leorio and Kurapika in the first place; you cursed yourself and your drive for collecting ingredients.

You started to walk in a random direction, hoping it was the right one. It wasn't; you had multiple almost death experiences. You almost fell into a spiked ditch, almost got infected by mushrooms, and some flowers had tried to eat you. But after the carnivorous plant incident, It took an hour to finally make it out of the swamp to a clean pathway through a foresty area where people were gathered in front of a gate. There were a lot fewer people this time around. You dropped your bag to stretch; your body was aching at this point. Pulling down your skirt that had risen and dusted off your blouse. You chose to put your hair up in a ponytail since the swamp had made it puff out and applied some gloss because damn your lips were chappy. The chatter of the people around you was white noise as you sat at the bottom of some random tree. You closed your eyes and rested against the tree. As you listened to the birds that were chirping and the ruffling of tree leaves. It was a peaceful moment-

-clickclickclickclickclick

You opened your eyes to stare at the most weirdest humanoid you've ever seen—purple skin, blue mohawk, needles sticking around his head and the upper half of his body. His head went from side to side, making the clicking noise as he walked. When did he arrive at the exam? Was he always here too? Where's the clown man, and your eyes snapped to the clown in question who was leaning against a tree smiling to himself. 

You also realized Leorio was leaning against a tree (More like passed out) not too far from him looking bruised up. You looked around for the blonde but did not see him anywhere. Where was he? Did he get caught in a death trap? You rushed over to Leorio and crouched down in front of him. You checked his pulse, it was slow, but luckily, he was alive, he must have passed out from some kind of impact judging by the puffy blue cheek. Did a monster attack him?

"Leorio what happened?" you shook his arm, there was a pause and some mumbling of random words. "Can you wake up? Where's Kurapika?" more mumbling. You slapped him on the unbruised cheek. 

"WHAT THE HELL!" He immediately sprung up screaming as he turned to you, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH- Oh, it's you, you can hit me anytime~" So you slapped him again. "OUCH! Why did you hit me!?"

"You asked me to hit you, I think?" you were very confused. 

"No, no, I said it as a-ugh nevermind!" he threw his hands up before he flinched, "Damn, what the hell happened? Why am I in such pain." He complained as he rubbed his bruised cheek. You tilted your head; he seemed in to be a lot of pain, as you stared at his bruise you decided to help him. You dropped your backpack to search for something. You grabbed a pineapple and showed it to him. 

"WHY DO YOU HAVE A!-you know what nevermind it kinda makes sense." he sounded as to have given up on something. You grabbed your favourite knife, Ms.Gorgon and two skewer sticks. "You're not going to stab me, are you?" he asked, his voice wavering as he backed up against the tree. You shook your head and started peeling the pineapple with swift quickness. He watched your work in astonishment.

"Pineapples are great to reduce inflammation and bruising plus its cooling on the skin when applied. It also serves as a delicious treat after a long run through the swamp." you cut the pineapple in slices with ease and stuck them onto the skewer sticks, you used the pineapple peel to apply to Leorios bruise, taking his hand to put it against his cheek to hold onto the peel. He stared at you in awe, and his face seemed to have turned a shade of red. You looked confused as you stared at his face, "Are you...allergic to pineapples?"

"Yeah-Uh no, no, I'm not!" he laughed it off. Strange why was his face was red then?...you shrugged it off as you handed a stick of pineapple to him.

"Leorio!" you heard a childish yell from behind and turned around to see the green-haired kid, Gon, running up and beside him was Kurapika. You felt a bit of relief when you saw him since you didn't want friends to be apart(?) The kid glanced at you quickly before looking at Leorio in concern. "Are you alright?"

"NWOWUTHAPPEN?!" he yelled his voice muffled by the mouth full of pineapple. Kurapika and Gon stared at him before Kurapika whispered into the kid's ear, and they seemed to have agreed on something. 

"Gon," you all turned to the white-haired boy, walking up with a skateboard in one hand and the other in his pocket. He always seemed relaxed or casual. 

"Killua!" Gon seemed happy to see him. 

"I can't believe you managed to find your way here." and they seemed to have started chatting away. You held a pineapple stick to Kurapika, and he glanced from Leorio to you. It seemed like something clicked, and he smiled.

"You seemed to have gained Leorios trust...I guess I have no choice but to trust you too," he said, taking the stick of pineapple from your hand. His fingertips touched you as he took the stick from your hand, his hand felt warm. Did your heart just skip a beat? You felt your heart, and it was back to normal. What the hell was that? 

"Hey, is fatty here too?" Killua, glancing at you, arms behind his head.

"Killua, that's rude, and she's not fat." Gon chastised the white-haired boy, giving you an apologetic smile. 

"Yeah, but she eats like one," he smirked at Gon, then glanced at you for a reaction. 

"Killua!" Gon turned to you "Sorry about that he doesn't mean it" the 'yes I do' got ignored, "Names Gon, and you're?" he held out his hand. What a mature kid. You shook his hand and told him your name, and then turned to Killua. 

"You may be right; my appetite is not the same as a normal person. I guess fatty does suit me," you said with a smile. His expression turned to embarrassment, then annoyance to acceptance.

"Ugh..now you ruined it," he pouted—what a strange kid.

"Everyone job well done," you all turned to Mr.Satoz as he stood in front of the gate. "The Visca Forest Reserve is the venue for the Second Phase. I'll take my leave, and I wish everyone the best of luck." he took his leave, marching into the forest as the gates opened for the second phase. 

"I wish...I had seen his mouth," you whispered under your breath disappointed, gaining the attention of Kurapika, who stared at you before covering his laughter with his fist. "Why are you laughing? I'm serious, where was his mouth? Did he have a little mouth under his moustache? Like a tiny mouth," you gestured where his mouth could have been located, probably right below his nose. He laughed harder, and you felt your heart skip another beat at the sound. You hit your chest, stop that!

"Sorry, that was just an unexpected thing to hear," he said apologetically, mistaking your upset expression to be directed at him. You nodded, still feeling confused at the fluttering feeling in your stomach. 

You decided to ignore the incident as you and the rest of the contestants made your way into the gate—a giant mansion with a large man and a young woman seated on a couch. Well, the large man sat behind the coach since he wouldn't be able to sit on it, you were sure if he stood up he would be the height of the mansion doors. But nevermind that, there were cooking booths set up, and you felt your entire being light up with excitement. 

"Those who have passed the first phase, step inside." the young woman said, everyone gathered in front of the two examiners. You were examining the cooking booth and all its supplies while they introduced themselves. Their names were Menchi and Buhara, and you knew they were going to be your favourite examiners. There was a growling sound that seemed to echo throughout the area, and Buhara tapped his stomach. "You must be very hungry" she turned her head to smile at him with a knowing look.

"I'm so hungry I could faint," Buhara answered tiredly. She smirked, standing up.

"Here's how it will be. The second Phase test..." she paused, everyone waited in anticipation, "Will be cooking!" she pointed. The crowd's atmosphere turned to disappointment, but you weren't focusing on that since you were on cloud nine. You were internally screaming with joy, and your aura was sparkling. 

"Hold on a second, did you say cooking? We are here to try out for the Hunters Exam," the round contestant with a ponytail stated irritated, and other people joined in to complain.

"You heard correctly. Your challenge for the second phase is to make a dish that will satisfy us," she answered, her hand on her hip. 

"Why a cooking test?" Someone in the crowd asked. They were gourmet hunters, wasn't it obvious? You felt your excitement becoming dampened by the other contestants.

"That's because the two us are Gourmet Hunters!" she announced.

People in the crowd started to laugh, and you even heard a "This must be a joke" You clenched your fist, you weren't sure how the two examiners were able to deal with the disrespect because you were itching to introduce them to Mr.Phoenix. Menchi crossed her arm; she was also getting irritated.

"Buhara," she stated, too annoyed to go on, and that was Buaharas cue to stand up. Okay, he was bigger than the mansion doors.

"The main ingredient will be pork."

"Pork? You mean from a regular pig?" someone asked again.

"Any type of pig you find in Visca Reserve Forest will do. It doesn't matter what type." he continued to explain that we would be given ingredients and tools to use. You were shocked; they kind enough to provide tools and ingredients? Usually, Gourmet hunters had to do all the foraging themselves.

"The test will conclude only when we are full," Menchi added, her eyes closed in irritation, probably calming herself down from the disrespect of the contestants. 

"Understood. Let's just get on with it" the ponytail guy waved her words off. The gull of this man, you ignored the arrogance in the air as you put your hand up. 

"Excuse me, Chef!" You held up a hand, "Are we allowed to use ingredients that we brought into the exam?" you had various dry food, cheese, and milk packed away in your backpack, and you wanted to make use of them.

Menchi blinked at you in surprise, glancing at Buhara and back to you "Yes, we will allow that." 

"Thank you!" you were sparkling with joy. You got a lot of glances but didn't care enough to pay attention from who. You were going through the list of ingredients in your possession, and what would go best with pork. 

"Well then, the second phase of the exam..." Buhara smacked his belly, which made a 'GONG' sound. "..STARTS NOW," he announced.

Adrenaline coursed through your very being as you rushed out into the field with the others, this was your phase. This whole phase was yours to conquer. You would show them all for disrespecting Gourmet hunters and your craft of cooking. You grinned widely. 

"She must really like cooking, huh?" you heard Gon's voice state happily from behind and some other chatter you didn't care enough to pay attention to. You ignored the people around you as you made your beeline into the foresty area, you analyzed each plant and realized this whole place was packed with herbs. The examiners were too kind to these people; you gathered globes of onions and reached for the Shasta daisies. 

"They said pork, not flowers!" you heard someone laugh as they ran past, your eye twitched in annoyance, but you kept gathering your ingredients. You stored them away safely and made your way to look for meat.

You heard squawking from the opposite direction, so you followed it. They said pork, but you could add other types of meat, right? You grabbed Ms.Gorgon from your backpack and looked around the area. You looked up and realized it was a nest. You grinned in excitement. Eggs were a staple to any kitchen. With that in mind, you climbed up the tree with ease; the bird squawked at you before flying off in fear. You analyzed each egg and grabbed the ones darker in tone; they were unfertilized, which meant you wouldn't be stealing the bird's babies away. 

You stored the eggs away; suddenly, you felt the tree shake as you heard a rumble coming from below and saw a bunch of pigs chasing the four people you had met before.

So the pigs were Great Stamps, huh, maybe the examiners weren't so nice after all, they were carnivorous and cannibalistic pigs. Broad snouts shielding their sensitive foreheads, they were pretty cute but alas. You climbed halfway down the tree as the stampede made it's way through. You jumped on top of one of the pigs and stabbed him on his forehead, making him yelp and fall down. You stood up, twirling your knife and flicking the blood off, eyes glinting at the other pigs, daring them to come near you and your little friend. The rest of the contestants must have found the pigs weakness since they were all carrying the Great Stamp on their back. You picked your piggy up and brought him back to the mansion area. You couldn't help but pick up more herbs on the way, and once you entered the gate, you realized you had taken too long since you were the last to arrive at your station. Either than or none of the others put in the effort to think about their cooking. 

You analyzed your competition; people were cooking their pigs on the rotisserie; you resisted the urge to critique them. Some were undercooking their pigs; some overcooking; none of them used any spices or herbs—bland pig. These MOTHERFUCKERS really underestimated cooking, huh?

You lay out all your ingredients on top of your cooking counter. There were many dishes that you could possibly make, and you weren't sure which way to go. Buhara seemed to be easy to please as he was currently swallowing every pig offered to him, but Menchi. You looked up at Menchi only to be startled that she was looking back at you in curiosity. You nodded at her and looked back at your ingredients. She was a challenge. There was no way you could know what kind of dish she could favour, and making one would put you at a disadvantage if she didn't like a particular type of ingredient. Why not make it a buffet style? People were roasting the whole pig, but you could section it off, right? You slammed your hands on your counter. Startling the people around you.

YES, that way, you could use all your ingredients, and Menchi would be able to choose whichever fancies her taste buds. Although what about drinks? They didn't specify if they wanted drinks, but your booths mini fridge had a tray of ice cubes, sparkling water, and different flavoured fruity and also alcoholic beverages; you might as well make a drink to go along with the meal, right? You disregarded the thought to make a desert; it would be too much on your hand; now, you must focus on creating a pork buffet that will satisfy and fill the examiner's stomachs. 

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath, grabbing the frilly apron in your backpack. Putting it on over your neck and wrapping the strings behind your back. It was your battle armour, and you were about to slaughter everyone in this arena. You also put on a see-through raincoat that covered your whole body. 

"What the hell is she doing?" you heard someone beside you, followed by laughter. You stared him down, grabbing your chainsaw out of your backpack-name still pending-earning some shocked looks, and went to work on cutting up the pig. After a gory mess later, you were dividing up the different sections of meat for different dishes. Pig heart, pig liver, pig snout, pig legs, every part of the meat would not be wasted. Your cute apron was splatter-free thanks to the raincoat. You threw the blood-covered overcoat to the side and quickly scrubbed and sanitized your booth. Then went to work on cutting up your herbs and grinding some of them down into powder to use as spices. You cooked sections of the meat on the rotisserie, some on the pan and some in the mini oven; you boiled some beans and steamed some rice that you had in your backpack. Most of the competition had already failed due to Menchi's disapproval, and it encouraged you to keep working hard. You were cooking with two pans at once, rushing to turn the rotisserie, back to sauteeing the onions, adding spices to the beans. You wish you had multiple arms because you wanted to add dessert to the menu. 

You put on your protective metal mask and announced, "I would advise the people around me to move at least ten feet away from my area." You grabbed out your flamethrower; they immediately backed away. Your whole booth was lighting up as you used the flamethrower to melt the cheese and strawberries to add as sauce and roast the top of the pork for individual dishes. 

It took you approximately an hour to finish everything. 

You wiped off the perspiration on your forehead with the back of your hand. You were startled to see a small crowd gathered around your booth, all staring at you in awe, if not in a disturbance. 

Yes, ogle you, bastards. This is the magic of cooking. You glared them down, taking off your frilly apron to throw it on the side.

Menchi made her way to the back corner where your booth was located, followed by Buhara, who just drooled at the line up of dishes. Since your booth could not fit all your meals, you also used the empty booth beside you. Technically it had been in use, but you did threaten them with a flamethrower before, so it was yours to take. 

"Hmm, you really took advantage of the fact that we didn't say if you could make multiple dishes," your heart dropped. Were you going to fail automatically, you weren't sure if your pride could handle failing in cooking, you would throw yourself into a pot of boiling water-she then grinned in approval? "I like people who blur the line of the rules in cooking, and you seemed to be the only one to put in a lot of effort...how many dishes did you make?"

"13 Chef, not including side dishes, sauces or drinks. I have them all listed if you'd like to look them over, I took inspiration from different cultures, and I also made sure to grade them from spicy to sweet" you stated, holding out a paper that was titled 'Menu' listed with all the food plus what was used and grading from spicy to sweet. The only thing that was missing was pictures, but you weren't best at drawing, and your scribbles would ruin the effort you put into the curvature of the letterings for your menu. You made sure everything looked professional and presentable, just like your father had taught you. You worked your whole childhood cooking alongside your father, who was a gourmet hunter, food was your life, and you hoped she would taste the passion you felt in your dishes.

Menchi hummed in approval passing the menu to Buhara, who looked it over as he wiped off the drool from the corner of his mouth. Menchi looked over the dishes raising her stick to show the 'O' sign, and your heart was beating hard as she sampled a few of your meals. She closed her eyes and hummed once again, and you felt sweat gathering on the back of your neck in anticipation. Buhara ate up the rest of the dishes with relish, but Menchi was still silent with her arms crossed.

"For the pork tenderloins, the strawberry sauce is too bitter for the pork" Your heart went through a rollercoaster of emotions. You should have tasted the strawberries before using them, that was such an amateur mistake; your dad would have had your head for this. "The brown sugar pork would have been too sweet," she paused, looking at your ghostly white face, "but the bitterness of the cheese really balanced out the taste. The pork was crunchy on the outside and soft and juicy on the inside. The garlic taste for your honey garlic pork was a bit overpowering. You did use the herbs gathered around the area, so it was a nice effort added to your cooking. I must say each of your dishes made the sweet, savoury taste of pork stand out. The meat itself was firm but easy to chew, and you made use of all tools plus your own to make a satisfying and filling buffet-" she paused and looked at the drinks you prepared. "-you also made use of the drinks I see, that was not required; however, it would have gotten people easy points." She grabbed the Mojito drink you made and walked back to her seat, Buhara, in tow with a blue mermaid cocktail. She took a long sip and looked everyone over. 

"Only one person passed this year," she announces, nodding at you in approval, you snapped out of your trance of failure from the small criticisms but cheered out loud for passing, jumping up and down. "For the rest, better luck next time." she said, standing up "Exam over."

Of course, the commotion that followed was boisterous; the ponytail guy broke his kitchen booth in half out of anger. What did they expect disrespecting the examiners and their profession? "Of course, the woman passed. She's already accustomed to cooking!" he seemed to have yelled a sexist comment directed at you, but you were still sparkling from excitement, so it went unnoticed.

"Didn't I say to make a dish that would satisfy both of us? Only one of you managed to make something delicious, most of you didn't even cook the pork properly, the rest of you cooked nothing special or interesting it was all roasted whole pigs! The ones who put in effort into the appearance didn't think about the taste at all! No attention to flavour! Nobody but one highlighted the flavour of the food!" You did not pay attention as you sampled your strawberry dip, sucking it off your fingertip and making a disgusted face. She was right; it was too bitter, you should have sampled it and added a bit of sugar to sweeten it up. Still, you felt like the second criticism was undeserved since the garlic was supposed to be powerful on the honey garlic pork. However, this experience made it clear that you still had a long way to go in your journey in cooking. 

You suddenly felt a burning sensation on the side of your face, and you looked around the area, there was still a fiasco going down, you thought you saw Buhara swat something and a loud crash sound from behind, but you were focused on finding the person staring at you with intent. You finally found the culprit, yellow pupils, snake-like eyes, and a leering smile. You stared at him in confusion before looking off to the side because you felt unnerved. You had many bumps with death in the past due to your carelessness, but that clown guy gave you an overwhelming dreaded feeling worse than those times. 

Suddenly there was a crash to the ground and smoke and dust everywhere, you coughed as the smoke cleared to reveal an old man walking towards Menchi like he hasn't just jumped from a blimp. He wore wooden sandals that clinked with each step and a long-sleeved white robe, white beard that seemed to curve up, and the one trait you could focus on was his eyebrows, they practically grew as strands of hair off of his brow bone.

"Who is this old man?" you heard someone in the crowd ask, and you also were interested because damn his eyebrows were long. 

"He's the head of the selection committee, the person in charge of the hunters exam" Menchi answered, "Chairman Netero." 

"Rather than being in charge, you could say I'm working behind the scenes. In other words, someone who comes in to fix a problem such as this" he corrected, then he went on to question her and also glanced at her cleavage at some point. You kind of zoned out because you were just extremely tired and bored, and you were the only one to pass the phase, which meant instant pass of the exam, so can the rest of the people just leave so you could get your hunters license?

...

.....

Sadly, that did not happen, and now you were in a blimp with the others on the edge of Split in half mountain for them to redo their test. You were quite irritated since the others did not deserve to have a second chance, mostly for disrespecting cooking, simultaneously you too. The plus side was that you didn't have to do the test alongside them unless you wanted to, and while you did like spider eggs, you'd rather not go through extra trouble for an ingredient you've already tasted. So you stayed on the blimp to wash up and rest up in your large room. Technically it was shared with the rest of the contestants, but you were the only one in the room for now. While lying in your sleeping bag, your mind drifted off, and you fell asleep. It was nighttime when you were woken up.

"Everyone who passed the second phase should come to gather to the front of the blimp for an announcement," you heard a happy voice announce. You stretched your arms and got up to change from your pyjamas to your new clothes; you wore an over the shoulder pink blouse and white ruffled skirt, you wore your mary janes that you cleaned off and made your way to the front of the blimp—getting lost only once in the process since one of the guards were nice enough to help you.

That announcement was apparently only aimed at you since you were the only person to enter the room as everyone gathered in front of Netero, there were a lot less people going from hundreds to less than fifty. You made your way through the empty space where you could see clearly, not realizing you were standing next to the two most unnerving contestants-but you were still half asleep, so the 'alert to danger' instinct was turned off. 

Netero looked everyone over and started to speak, "Let me introduce myself to the 43 candidates gathered here-I am the chairman of the selection committee for this year's hunters exam, chairman Netero." You thought you went through this already during the whole second phase fiasco, but whatever, he better-having something interesting to say for waking you up from your nap. Honestly, you wanted to go back to sleeping, running through a tunnel, then a swamp used up your physical energy, and the second phase used up your emotional and mental energy. 

"I'm his secretary beans" oh, you suddenly lit up, recognizing the happy green man from the start of the exam. Even his name was cute; your craving to pat him on his shiny green head resurfaced. You giggled to yourself happily, a bit too loudly, actually, so you got some confused and annoyed glanced from some of the people around you.

That didn't matter as you smiled to yourself, making a patting motion with your hand. Bean would probably have a V mouth expression if you patted him on his head, it would be so cute. You were startled to hear a masculine 'Aungh' or something along that sound from your right side, and you almost had a heart attack to see the clown man who stood right beside you, a bit too close for you liking. He had his eyes closed as his upper body shook. Was he having a seizure, or was he laughing? You weren't sure, but you didn't want to know. So you moved back and bumped into something pointy and looked up to see that you bumped into one of the needles sticking out of the chest of the needle man. With a quick apology, you stood beside him; he was unnerving but not as much as clown man, plus his expression up close just looked like he was here to have a good time. He did glance at you from the corner of his tiny eyes and did his weird clicking thing, but it was better than whatever was going on with the clown guy. Netero was doing more talking, something about the tension in the air being nice or something you weren't listening again. 

"The estimated time of arrival at the next destination is 8:00 am tomorrow. Food has been prepared at the canteen for everyone. You can also have a rest. You are free to do what you want until we get in touch." Bean said, and with that, the announcement was over. You got woken up to listen to them tell everyone that they could rest till tomorrow, so your mood dropped further down. You were about to leave to go back to your resting spot but was stopped when you heard your name being called. You turned around and saw Leorio and Kurapika walking up to you.

"Hey, you really left us behind in the second phase, and here I thought we were friends," Leorio said, putting his hand around your shoulder. 

"Oh no, we weren't. I just pitied you," you said with a smile, speaking truthfully. Because it was true, you weren't here to be friends with people you just needed your hunter's license. 

"She's really blunt," Leorio muttered under his breath like he was in deep thought, "Those types have their cute moments too, though," he nodded to himself with a blush on his face. 

"We should rest up for tomorrow." Kurapika said, ignoring Leorio; you were forced to walk alongside them due to Leorios arm, "Although I wonder how many phases there are..." he questioned. 

"Now that you mention it, they never announced it," Leorio blinked in realization.

"Normally, there will be five to six phases" Tonpa made his entrance. 

"That means there are three or four phases left," Leorio stated the obvious. 

"So, we should really rest well," Kurapika said, and Tonpa seemed to have grown a bit excited as he spoke.

"Don't let your guard down, though; the secretary just said we are on our way to our next destination. But the third phase could be happening on the airship itself. They might not notify us-" he continued, and you just couldn't take it anymore.

"UGHHH-" that loud, frustrated sound was coming from you, startling the three of them. Okay, wow, you were really not in a good mood, "I don't careee- learn how to spike a drink before trying to sabotage our sleep!" you said before pulling Leorio along with you to walk back to the sleeping quarters, Kurapika quickly followed beside you. 

"What if he's right, and we're not notified?" Kurapika asked out loud, and Leorio stared at him, both thinking over Tonpa's words. 

"Then we get extra sleeping time," you simply stated, making them break out into a laugh. You didn't think you said anything funny, but whatever- 

The three of you entered the sleeping quarters, and it was filled with the other contestants chatting away or sleeping in their designated sleeping bag. You were a bit annoyed that your spacious room was now gone, why didn't the hunter association provide sleeping quarters for each contestant, was this giant blimp just for show?

"Immagosleep," you accidentally slurred your words as you left Leorio and Kurapika to walk over to your sleeping bag, then stopped midway, realizing it had been pushed to the corner of the room, along with your backpack. It didn't help your mood that it was near the clown man who was stacking his cards into a tower, menacingly. You went over and fixed up your bunched up sleeping bag, then checked over the tools in your backpack-nothing had been stolen at least. You laid on top of your sleeping bag, closing your eyes and trying to ignore the burning sensation of someone staring.


	2. Chapter 2

"Thank you for being patient, everyone. The airship is about to arrive at our destination." You woke up to the sound of Beans announcement. You felt groggy, and your legs were sore. The other applicants were on the same boat, as many complained and struggled to get up. You fell back asleep shortly, only to wake up ten minutes later. You realized the room was almost empty, as you rose like a vampire rising from their coffin. Your hair elastic had somehow slipped off during your sleep, and your hair was a mess. Strands were sticking out into different directions like they were antennas. You grabbed a comb from your backpack to brush it out, getting all the tangles and knots out. Then with another elastic pinched between your teeth, you tried to gather all your hair together; a couple strands managed to escape your grip. 

"Need a hand?" You were startled by the voice and glanced at the clown guy from the corner of your eyes. His voice reminded you of the time a snake had slipped from your hand to slither across your arm-your dad had saved you that time. You completely forgot you had somehow fallen asleep near him; you must have been genuinely exhausted. You didn't even sleep inside the sleeping bag, just fell asleep right on top of it without changing into your pyjamas. 

He was currently sitting cross-legged, his elbows on his knees as he rested his chin on top of his hands. His eyes squinted into amusement as you continued to struggle to gather your hair. You gave up on attempting a neat bun hairstyle, so you just stuck with a low ponytail. "Given up so quickly? That's a shame~" he gave you a close-eyed smile; you weren't sure how to react around this guy. As the minutes ticked by, there was the overwhelming dread of falling into a pit as you stared at him, it seemed to encompass his very presence. He suddenly opened his eyes, yellow irises glowing like a predator about to strike, he raised a hand and slowly brought it up to your face, like he was about to grab you. "Can you sense it?" he seemed to whisper under his breath excitement coating every syllable. You weren't sure what he was talking about, but you noticed how sharp his nails were-Was he going to pierce you in your eyes?! 

You jumped when you felt a hand on your shoulder. You looked up to see Kurapika. He was staring down the redhead who had retracted his hand and gazed back with a smile. Kurapika's posture was tense and alert, then he looked down at you, and his expression softened. 

"Are you coming? The others are waiting outside," he asked, he made it sound like you were part of their group or agreed to have them wait for you. But you felt relieved to have some smooth getaway from the redheaded man. You packed everything away in your backpack and swung it on quickly. Kurapika waited for you to exit the sleeping quarters first like he was shielding you, then he joined you in your walk down the hall towards the exit doors. "Sorry if I was a bit pushy. You just seemed very uncomfortable," he spoke apologetically. He came to your aid because he was concerned for you? "Although I can't believe you slept near Hisoka, I'm not sure if that's brave or naive on your part." his voice changed from concern to scolding. Oh, that was his name? You could finally stop calling him the clown guy. But nevermind that, why was he concerned for you, you guys weren't close nor were you friends. Could he be trying to get something from you? You didn't have anything to offer him, and you only have money to last you through four months of travel-since you managed to spend all your money on food or cooking supplies. Unless he wanted your tools-which, you would never give up to him-although you couldn't imagine him wielding anything heavy with his arms; he seemed frail and weak. 

"If I seemed uncomfortable, why would it concern you?" you asked, stopping in your step, and he stopped to look back at you curiously, "I mean, it's not your business to help me. You don't gain anything from it." There was a frown on his face, confusion written all over it.

"Why did you help me and Leorio escape in Swindlers Swamp?" he shot back, crossing his arms, "Why did you help Leorio with his bruise?" That was different! 

"Well, I needed to grab the strawberries, and you two would get in the way-a-and that's because Leorio looked pitiful." You paused as you suddenly felt unsatisfied at your replies; you realized you weren't making much sense. You could have easily controlled the intensity of Mr.Phoenix's flame and foraged the strawberries with the two around, so there was no reason to tell them to leave unless you did it out of their safety. And during phase one, you felt pity for the people that fell from exhaustion, but you never tried to help them, so why did you try to help Leorio? 

Kurapika was silent as he watched your expression changed from irritated to confused before he continued. "I don't know why you're against my help, or why you avoid being around us in the first place. But if you think people help others to benefit themselves..." he had a sad smile, his eyes conveying pity for you. "you must have lived a lonely life..." he finished. It felt like time froze as he spoke those words, you weren't sure why your heart was beating so hard or why your knuckles were clutching onto the bottom of your blouse. 

"Don't make assumptions about me." you couldn't help but glare at him. You weren't lonely; you had your parents around, and you had your cooking tools and brand new recipe books every week to keep you company. Being lonely meant you were missing or felt dissatisfied with your life. You knew yourself best, and you knew you were happy with being alone, you weren't lonely! But why did his words have such a massive effect on you? 

"Kurapika, what's taking so long?!" You both heard Leorio's voice yell from outside. That snapped you both out of a trance. As you and the blonde exited the blimp in silence, the uncomfortable atmosphere followed. Leorio was waiting right below the stairs of the blimp. His arms crossed in irritation. Not far from him were Gon and Killua chatting away happily. Leorios irritated expression turned to confusion as he squinted at the two of you in suspicion, "Did...something happen between you two?-"

"No," you and Kurapika simultaneously replied. You glanced at each other before looking away, still feeling awkward from before. 

"Huh...alright then." he still sounded suspicious but didn't question it. 

You looked to Bean, who had already made his appearance and stood in front of the crowd. "Everyone, this is the starting point for the third phase. This is the top of the Trick tower-" Bean explained with his usual happy tone, you just absentmindedly listened. That conversation just felt so unresolved and tense, and Kurapika shook you up so badly that you couldn't even focus on how cute Bean and his shiny head were. "-You'll pass if you're able to reach the bottom alive." After the short explanation, Bean had to depart along with the blimp, with a very last announcement wishing luck. 

Everyone looked confused as they looked around the Tower; there was nothing in sight other than the vast blue sky above. Some of the contestants went straight to looking for a secret opening or trap door. You walked to the edge of the Tower to peak over. If you tried to climb down, it would surely lead to disaster. You were startled to see Gon crouching beside you, with the other three joining. You glanced at Kurapika, who stood beside Gon, his arms crossed as he looked down in contemplation. The breeze ruffled his blonde hair, and you never realized how shiny and smooth it was-

"Are we supposed to get down there?" Leorios voice snapped you out of your staring. You had to slap yourself for having weird thoughts, earning an alarmed look from Killua. He snorted but didn't comment on it.

"Isn't this just suicide?" Kurapikas question was more of a statement.

It seemed that was the introduction needed for one of the unnamed contestants to make a smug entrance. "Hmph, a normal person can't do it," he stated the obvious. As he sat on the edge and started climbing down with swift precision, you had to say it was impressive. "Such a task is a piece of cake for a professional rock climber like me." 

"Amazing," Killua said in astonishment. 

"He's going down with ease," Gon added. The flapping of wings reached your ear; they seemed to be coming from below somewhere.

"Hey, do you hear something?" you asked out loud, the sound had stopped soon as it came.

"Huh... not really-" Leorio was about to speak, but the sound suddenly became louder as the most ugliest creatures you've ever seen popped out from the Tower's side, short stubby leg and arms on a tubby body, with wings on the back, closed eyes and a huge mouth with sharp teeth. The man who was climbing down froze up and screamed as the creatures snatched him away. The monsters flew up and out, and everyone watched the department in astonishment. 

Not only was the task a piece of cake for him, but he too was a piece of cake for those monsters. Another grim joke, you internally apologized to the man. 

"I-I don't think we'll be able to get down by climbing down the wall." Everyone agreed with Leorio. 

Thirty minutes in and somehow the amount of people had been reduced to less than twenty. No, they weren't eaten or killed by the ugly monsters, but they somehow managed to get inside the Tower. You were walking around, hoping to trigger some trap since you were best at doing that, but it seems that it chose today out of all days to spare you, so all you were doing was going on a light stroll. The breeze felt nice, so you didn't mind, but you'd also like to get to the Tower's bottom to pass this phase. 

"Kurapika Leorio!" Gon called his friends, who made their way towards him and Killua. You tried to ignore them as best as possible, but they were such a flashy group of people that you couldn't help but glance at them a couple times as you strolled around. They all seemed to get along well as they chatted away happily, not only that, they seemed to rely on each other and help each other out. However, while you did think their teamwork and friendship were admirable, you did not want to be part of their group. And you weren't lonely. 

You clutched the straps of your bag as you continued to look around for a trap door. A couple of minutes passed, and you were startled to hear someone shout your name; Gon was waving you over-enthusiastically, which surprised you. Why were they calling you over, you walked to the group begrudgingly, as Gon pressed his hand down onto the ground, to reveal a trap door. 

"Oh, good job!" You complimented the boy, and maybe he just wanted to show his success in finding a trap door? He looked to be around twelve, so he probably sought validation-just like you did whenever you had training with your mother. He grinned up at you and continued, shocking you once more, "There are four other ones near here, so you can use one of them!" Seriously? You looked around and saw how clear the outline of the trap doors were; you weren't sure how you missed it. Perhaps they became more evident after seeing one at work.

"Thank you..." you said, feeling conflicting emotions. On one side, you did want to pass; on the other side, you didn't like how you needed someone's help for it(Especially a child's help!). You always managed on your own, or at least along with your trusty cooking tools. This was a one-time occurrence, so what the heck, might as well take advantage of the opportunity. 

"Gon and I have decided to choose a random one each," Killua explained with a smile.

"We have nobody to blame if we fall into a trap," Gon added,

"That sounds good to me. Luck is a skill just like everything else." Leorio said. If luck was a skill, you were going to die this phase. 

"I'm fine with it too." Kurapika also agreed, and then he turned to you. Why was he staring at you?-Oh, the others were doing it too, probably waiting for your response.

"I'm fine with dying-I mean doing this" you quickly corrected yourself, Killua snorted and got elbowed by Gon, who still wore an innocent smile.

And so, with that agreement, you each walked and stood behind your designated trap door. 

"We'll count to three and jump together," Leorio said. Oh god. While you did like extra cheese on your food, this was too cheesy. 

"This will be a temporary goodbye for us here," Gon said, you could recognize a hint of sadness in his voice. 

"Let's meet again on the ground." Kurapika seemed to reassure everyone.

"Ready!" Killua said. 

You stayed silent because what the hell were you supposed to add? And saying 'See you guys later' would sound awkward since you weren't part of their group. Well, it didn't matter because after jumping in, you would be apart from them. You wouldn't have to deal with all these conflicting emotions or uncomfortable situations.

The countdown must have happened while you were deep in thought since they all jumped on top of their trap doors falling inside, you followed along late. The trap door promptly flipped over, and in you went, you felt the breeze of the fall, and you landed on your feet in a crouch position. You looked around the small dark room, the walls made out of bricks, there was a machine(?) against the wall with round cookie cutters(?) and a screen above with something written on it, but you couldn't make them out from here. Not too far from the device was a Leorio sprawled onto the ground. You paused and realized the others had managed to make it down here as well. You looked at them with wide, surprised eyes, and they were equally bewildered by the outcome of that short-lived departure. You hoped that the five of you weren't supposed to work together as a team or something like that, it would be your worst nightmare. The four of them walked up to the screen, as you looked around the room, hoping for another trap door.

"From now until the end, the five of you will continue by following what the majority wants." Gon read the screen above the machine. "I guess we're all together for this phase!" Gon announced happily. You felt your hope for escaping deflate as you made your way to join the four. 

"...and there are five timers," Gon announced. You each grabbed one, it looked like a round cookie cutter from afar, but it was a thin watch up close. There was an X and O buttons on its side and a small screen that had a timer. 

"Welcome!" a voice announced. The voice was coming from a ceiling radio.

"Who's that!?" Leorio screamed, looking around, a bit of an overreaction.

"My name is Lippo. I'm the prison warden and also the examiner of the third phase," the voice continued.

"Prison Warden?" yes, Kurapika, that is what he just said. 

"There are several routes in this Tower, you guys have chosen the route of majority rules. If you wish to leave this place, you'll need to work as a team." cue internal screaming, "If you do things on your own, you'll never be able to leave." Lippo continued to add salt to the wound. "I wish you good luck!" the moment the announcement got cut off, one of the brick wall sections rose to reveal a door with another screen with an X and O symbol on the bottom of it, you felt like this was going to be a typical voting system.

"Good thing we brought the woman along, or we might have had to wait," Killua said, glancing at you from the corner of his eyes in boredom. The rest of them internally agreed to the statement. Also, did he not know your name? Going from fatty to woman, you felt like he was doing it on purpose.

"To open the door press O, if not press X," Gon read, snapping you out of your thought. You all pressed 'O' simultaneously. Well, of course, you all wanted to leave, silly door. The door opened, and you all walked into a dimly lit room with prison cell bars on either side—another question on the screen to the front. 

"Which way, press O for right, X for left" Alright Gon, you didn't need to narrate everything. 

It seemed like everyone telepathically agreed on their choice instead of talking it out because three people had pressed right, and you and another person pressed left. The right prison bars rose to reveal the long dark hallway. 

"Why would you choose to go right?" Leorio said in frustration. "Shouldn't we go left?" ah, so Leorio was the other person. 

"That's true." Kurapika spoke, "In the study of human behaviour when people are in a situation where the need to decide, they will subconsciously pick the left side." You blinked at how much sense that made, since every time you chose a path, you always seemed to go for the left. Maybe if you went the right way more often, you wouldn't ever get tangled in a web of trouble?

"I heard that too," Killua joined in. Okay, kid, no need to make you and Leorio feel dumber. 

"Wait, this is wrong no matter how you think," You didn't see why he was making a big deal out of it, but you assumed Leorio did not like being out of the loop. "which one did you guys choose?" Leorio pointed at them in accusation. 

"Right." Kurapika and Killua said like it was evident as they made their way to the right path. Gon innocently looked back and forth at the build-up of tension, unsure of what to do. That's also one reason you chose to be alone, because of situations such as this. 

"I chose left if that makes you feel any better?" you spoke up, and that seemed to have made Leorio snap out of his frustration as he swung his arm around you, and was that tears? 

"I'm so glad you're here!" You just nodded, unsure of how to react. You weren't thrilled you were there, but alas, completion of phase was your priority. 

The five of you made your way through the path that seemed to twist and turn at every corner. It was a silent walk, for the most part, the clinking of your mary janes appeared to be the loudest sound. Five minutes in and the sound must have agitated the white-haired kid because his head snapped towards your direction. 

"Why would you dress like that?" Killua asked eyes narrowing in annoyance,

"Because I like dressing nice," you answered, not continuing your explanation. It's not like you needed to explain it either, especially since you didn't want the blonde to make more assumptions about you. 

"Hmm..." he thought out loud, "it's just dumb, if you needed to escape with your heels, you would die instantly by an assassin's hands." Gon glanced at Killua but didn't say anything; it felt like he knew something you didn't. 

"Then I would die with a nice outfit," you said, cutting the conversation short. The corner of Killuas mouth turned up for a second. 

"You are so weird," Killua muttered under his breath, turning away from you. What is with this kid and calling you names? 

"I don't think I'm weird," you said, looking over your outfit, you were just taught by your mother to dress nice at any occasion even if it means compromising your comfort sometimes.

"I have to agree with him," Kurapika said, you felt your heart drop as you turned to him. 

"Just for dressing nice?" you frowned.

"Never stop dressing nice," Leorio seemed to whisper to himself happily, but he got ignored.

"No. Because you carry around a flamethrower," Kurapika said, not even sparing you a glance. "Also, because you named it Mr.Phoenix."

"I need him for cooking, and that name suits him!" you were trying to sound serious, but it sounded more like you were whining. How embarrassing!

"Perhaps it does," he said as he looked at you from the corner of his eyes, amusement in his eyes. So he was agreeing that it was a nice name, or was he making fun of you? 

"It's a pretty nice name," Gon agreed, Leorio nodded along encouragingly. Okay, now you're questioning your name choices.

"Speaking of flamethrowers, can I borrow it?" Killua cut in, a smile and a glint in his eyes.

"No, he doesn't like to be handled by others," you answered, protectively clutching the straps of your backpack. 

"See? Weirdo," the boy stated before looking away disinterested. You huffed and walked to the front of the group for the rest of the trip, feeling annoyed by the slight jabs.

Those types of comments usually didn't bother you, but today you felt more sensitive it seems, and did Kurapika think you were weird? Wasn't weird meant as an insult? The definition could go hand in hand with freak or strange. That would mean he disliked you and didn't want to be around you, right? Wait, why does that even bother you?-You felt someone grab and pull on your hand, making your face smash into their chest. You looked up at the grey irises of the blonde male in question, and your heart had a mini seizure once again. He felt warm and soft, and what was happening?! You were about to move away from him, but he stopped you.

You continued to struggle to get out of the unsolicited embrace, as he pulled back on you. 

"Stop that! Just look down!" he seemed frustrated by your need to get away from him. You paused mid-struggle and looked down. All you saw was pitch black; there was no path for you to walk on. You almost fell in. While this was not as shocking as it should have been since you had been desensitized with your constant need to attract disaster-you were more shocked that Kurapika had saved you...once again?

"Weren't you paying attention?" Kurapika asked agitation evident on his face.

"No, I wasn't," You answered, a bit embarrassed to be caught being your careless self. Kurapika stared at you with furrowed brows before releasing your wrist, sighing in frustration-that reaction was the same as your mothers whenever she was disappointed. You were starting to feel the creeping of shame crawl onto your back at his response.

"Well, then I'm glad I managed to pull you back last minute," shame was immediately blinded by the light that was Kurapikas smile. Your heart thumped erratically; he suddenly didn't seem like such a frustrating guy. The whole lonely and weird incident immediately pushed to the back of your mind.

"Thank you," you whispered, and was it you or was it getting a bit warm here? The interaction didn't go unnoticed by the other three, as they stared at you both with suspicion, and in Gons case curiosity. You looked around; There with an arena that did not have a path leading up to it. There was a similar situation on the other side of the room; there was a hallway with no way leading up to the arena. Inside the hallway, you saw some figures shifting around. You heard something metallic crash on the ground and realized it was from some handcuffs. A figure covered by a brown cloak stepped out into the light, taking off the cloak; it was a large muscular man with a scar that seemed to wrap around his head. Brown ripped up shirt and pants, no shoes. A prisoner. So you guys were going to have to fight with the inmates, figures. 

Lippo, the prison ward, came back on to confirm your thoughts, he announced that you would each have to battle one of the inmates.

"You can determine the order as you like. It depends on the majority rules. So if you can win three times, you pass." the muscular man added. You heard Leorio curse under his breath after he listened to the majority rules part. Being schooled by Kurapika must have put him in a bad mood, like you from before-from before? Wait, you weren't mad at him anymore? Well, he did save you from falling into your demise, so you guess that excused him from calling you lonely and weird. 

"Every hour we keep you here, they get a year of their sentence reduced. That means their goal is to waste as much time as possible." Lippo continued, his voice sounding gleeful. You wondered if he was snacking while speaking since you heard a crunch of something by the end of his sentence.

"I see, so we'll need to finish in 74 hours, it's a test to fight against time," Kurapika explained, looking down on his watch. The atmosphere felt tense.

"I will be the first one up. Make your decision quickly." The muscular inmate commanded. 

"What should we do, we can fight using any method, they might fight dirty" Killua said, looking at Kurapika. 

"We have no idea what they might come up with," Leorio added. 

"What kind of tactics will they use? The risk of going first is very high." Kurapika continued. Guys, didn't he say to make our decision quickly? Why are you all just contemplating their tactics? .

"Let me go first. I've been in many risky situations. I can handle this." you spoke up, getting shocked looks from the rest. You might as well finish your turn of the battle since they seemed to be full-on analyzing everything. That would also give you the chance to read your other recipe book all on meat.

"Are you certain you'd like to go first?" Kurapika asked. Well, you were not 100% confident since physical battles weren't your specialty. However, you had another battle method in mind, and you were a bit excited to introduce it.

"Yeah you sure about that? I can go instead-" Leorio was a pretty nice old man, you smiled at them.

"I'm certain." 

A rumbling sound echoed as a long metal pathway slowly came out from the hall to lead to the fighting arena. Your shoes clinked as you walked on the path onto the arena until you stood a few feet away from the prisoner. He crossed his arms as he towered over you. The inmate seemed surprised at your appearance; he probably didn't expect a girl with a giant backpack to face him. 

"Now we need to decide the method of the battle." he paused as a grin made it on his face, "How about a deathmatch? How is that?" 

"No." you shot him down without an explanation, "I suggest an eating contest." there was a silence after that as he stared at you like you had grown a second head. Your team was equally confused about your suggestion.

"WHAT?! We're not supposed to waste time!" You heard Leorio yell, but you waved him off. You would make this short.

"I aim to be a gourmet hunter, so I always have extra food packed away in my backpack." You took out two pink bento boxes, each with a teddy bear pattern, it was currently your favourite set."Whoever finishes eating their food first wins." 

"How can you prove you didn't poison them?" he asked slowly, narrowing his eyes. 

"I can't, and I won't." You simply put it. "However, I would never poison the food I make; it's part of my honour code to cooking," you said, not looking away from his hard stare down. The man surprised you by laughing boisterously.

"I like your bravery girl. Alright, I accept your challenge." 

You smiled as you sat down cross-legged, he did the same in front of you as you handed him some chopsticks. You opened the lid of the bento boxes as you explained the content. 

"For my lunch, I have prepared two set dishes of chicken curry; it's a simple recipe but my favourite meal." To see a large muscular prisoner holding a pink teddy bear bento box was quite a sight to behold. You were starting to eating yours, albeit slowly, you never rushed through your food anyway since you always needed time to analyze your food, but especially with your chicken curry. Your opponent tasted a bit of the chicken, and his expression changed to pleased. 

"This is a pretty good girl. Feels like forever since I've had good food," he complimented, then continued rushing through the curry, already halfway done. 

"Thank you," you sparkled at the compliment, slowly eating your food. 

"What is she doing? It's an eating contest." Leorio complained from behind you.

"Did she poison the food?" that suspicious voice was Killua.

"I don't think that's it. I can sense she's isn't the type to do that," of course the most nicest comment is from Gon.

"She's deliberately stalling..." Kurapika stated. He was always the mature one, the one to explain and analyze any situation it seems.

As the man was on his very last bite, he started to choke. His shaky fingers dropped his chopsticks. Sweat gathered on his forehead, and he was beginning to flush a bright red colour. 

"Y-You p-poisoned-" he chocked out, a murderous glare directed at you as he clutched his throat. Of course, he would jump to that conclusion, but you weren't a sadist-yes you could burn up a giant tortoises and chop up a pig with a chainsaw, however, those were for the sake of cooking-not of sadistic glee.

"I didn't poison it," you interrupted. "Like I said, I would never taint my dishes with poison. However, I did use some dragon peppers for the sauce. " You stood up and searched your bag for the sauce's main ingredient, presenting it to him. "The pepper is infamous in Kakin Empire as a torture method for traitors and thieves. Once eaten slowly, it usually tastes sweet, but it will start to feel like your body is burnt alive if eaten too quickly." you sparkled as you talked more about the pepper, "It's a rare ingredient to come by, and not many people can handle it. For me, it's one of my favourite peppers to use in my meals." you continued. "The only way to stop the burning sensation is by drinking goatpig milk, it will stop the effect right away," you grabbed a bottle of milk from your bag, "Luckily, I always carry some with me. If you wouldn't mind forfeiting, I'll give you a bottle." you offered innocently. 

You weren't even sure if he was listening to you, as he was having a hard time breathing through the burning sensation. Yeah, the same thing happened the first time you tried the dragon peppers. He was sweating profusely, and it was pretty gross to watch someone sweat all over your bento box-you just bought it too! He was starting to shake from the pain, as he spoke, his voice sounded dehydrated, "I... forfeit." he looked defeated.

"Great!" you handed him the bottle, which he downed in a second. He immediately stopped sweating, and his tan skin colour returned in just a second of drinking it. 

"You're right. I don't feel any burning at all," the inmate said, astonishingly looking over the bottle. 

"Pretty amazing, huh? The first prince of the Kakin Empire would torture commoners from nearby villages by force-feeding dragon peppers. So the villagers worked hard to breed a particular type of goatpig that's milk could completely smother out the effect of dragon peppers!" you explained happily. 

"I see..." he didn't know how to reply to your sudden excitement, "well, I must admit you got me good, your team wins one point." he crossed his arm, you thanked him. Packing away everything and made your way back to your team. 

"Good job!" Gon said, raising his hand high, you stared in confusion before realizing he was asking for a high five. You smacked his hand with yours as he cheered. Killua muttered a 'nice one' while looking away, and Leorio patted you on the shoulder. You felt uncomfortable with all the attention, but it felt nice to be appreciated.

"Good work" you looked at the blonde, which you hadn't realized stood beside you, he had his arms crossed and a smile on his face. You felt pride fill your being at his compliment, and your heartbeat sped up. Strange how your heart kept doing that around Kurapika.

For the second battle, Gon happily volunteered himself, and he was up against a skinny boy with a bang covering one side of his eye. He looked like he hadn't seen the sun for decades. The boy announced that he didn't have any confidence in his physical skills, and Gon told him he wasn't good with using his brain, a bit self-deprecating, don't they think? So the inmate offered a type of game that would suit them both. 

"We'll light up our candles at the same time" he held out two candles, one in each fist, "Whoever's candle goes out first, loses. How is that?" 

"Sure. It's clear and simple. Let's play this!" Gon happily obliged, showing a thumbs up. And so the inmate opened his fist and showed the actual lengths of the candles, one was long, and the other was short.

"Which candle would you like? It's your call," he continued. "Press O for the long candle and X for the short candle. We'll go by the majority."

"It's a trap!" Leorio announced, "Anyone would choose the long candle, so he must have rigged the long candle."

"Anyone could have thought of that," Kurapika commented, "On the contrary, he might have tampered the short one instead."

"But if you put it that way..."

"Yes, this could go on and on-"

Kurapika continues to analyze the situation, and you couldn't help but observe him. For someone from the opposite sex, Kurapika had a pretty feminine face. You would even go as far as to say he had a beautiful look. Of course, this is just observation. One can recognize another to be attractive but not be attracted to them. 

"What do you think?" Kurapika asked, turning to you, startling you out of staring. You thought it over.

"Just let Gon decide," you shrugged. That seemed to be the best choice anyway since if you made a choice for him and it was wrong, then the guilt would be on your conscious. 

"Yes, that's what I was thinking," Kurapika said with a small smile, feeling pleased by your answer. Skip of another beat, and you were starting to wonder if you had a heart condition. 

With that conclusion, Gon decided to pick the long candle since he stated it would burn longer. Well, he wasn't wrong, but in this case, it turned out his candle had gunpowder added to burn faster. Gon still managed to beat him, with a speed that a regular 12-year-old wouldn't possess. He blew out the inmates candle while leaving his on the ground. It was a quick and easy victory. So now the team had two points, just one more point!

"Alright, let me take this one," Kurapika said calmly, walking onto the pathway. 

He was up against a very unfortunate looking inmate; he was big and muscular, had a blue skin and had a kappa-like headpiece, nose, and a few of his teeth missing. One eye bruised and a cone machine-like support on his left year-just a whole lot of ouch. That's the sum of his appearance, ouch. Your pity for the man fell short as he turned out to be extraordinarily smug and boisterous, bragging about how he wouldn't stop midway a battle even if Kurapika begged. The blonde stared at him throughout his strange laughter, before grabbing his traditional blue tunic and taking it off-OH.MY.GOD! Kurapika had a white shirt and pants underneath, but still, that felt a bit scandalous to watch. You touched your heating face, trying to soothe it down. Why was it so hot in this place? 

"Shall we begin?" Kurapika asked. Yes, please begin and finish already so you can get out of here and stop overheating. The blue inmate looked a bit nervous now.

"Wait! I almost forgot to tell you this. You're not allowed to use weapons." as he explained the prison rules, and so Kurapika threw away his weapon which you never realized he had hidden away, and you wondered what kind of weapons it was. You'll ask about it in the future-wait future? No, no, you're not going to stick around with him for long. Once this phase is finished, you would be alone again. Just the way you preferred to be. 

Anyways the battle was strange, as the blue man started to hunch over and pulse around his muscles-Leorio claimed he was a formidable foe, but all you could think about was how gross his muscles looked. The blue man jumped up high and punched the ground, cracking the concrete, but Kurapika immediately dodged it. The way his hair wooshed as he slid back on his knees to avoid the punch was so cool-but suddenly Kurapika seemed to have taken on a dark mood as he stared at...a spider tattoo? It was a large tattoo of a 12 legged spider on the blue inmates back.

"It's a 12-legged spider tattoo. Isn't that..." Leorio spoke too shocked to finish his sentence. The tattoo was incredibly tacky, in your opinion. Felt like whoever wore it was trying too hard to appear tough. "It's a tattoo only worn by a Phantom Troupe member." he finished. Phantom troupe? Were they a group of ghosts with terrible choices in tattoos or something?

"What's that?" Gon asked,

"A well-known gang of thieves, Kurapika told me about them," huh? Was Kurapika acquainted with them? You stared at the battle; you sensed how the blondes aura seemed to have drastically darkened.

"You're looking at one of the Phantom Troupe's four kings-" aah! How lame this way too lame "-and my name is Majitani. This is no mere introduction, now is the time to forfeit. Before I pulverize you to-" he seemed to stop in his speech as he looked at the blonde with wide, terrified eyes. You wanted to see what he sees right now to be so afraid, did Kurapika do something? "What's going on?...are you okay there?" Majitani asked. He was suddenly pinched by his face and pulled up into the air by Kurapika; you didn't even know Kurapika had this much strength or speed. 

"S-Sowdownigeitforfeit!!" a jumble of words spilled out of the inmate's mouth as he yelped in fear. Kurapika didn't spare him and immediately punched him into the concrete ground, and you swear you saw a flash of red. You felt a bit bad for Majitani, but wow, Kurapika just casually jumped back like he didn't just beat a large muscular man into unconsciousness. 

Leorio and Gon gasped as Killua whistled. It was quiet for a minute until the blonde broke the silence. 

"Hear me out. Number one. The real members of the Phantom Troupe would have their membership number tattooed on their spider insignia" Kurapika sounded like he was on edge with his emotions, his words came out cold and murderous. "Number two. They absolutely would not count how many people they killed. Number three. Never ever say the name of the troupe." he turned his head, and you swore you saw his eye colour suddenly change to scarlet. "If you do, I'll break you into pieces." 

Everyone was staring slack-jawed at the blonde; you had to admit his speech gave you a shiver down the spine. He seemed like a weak, gentle and smart guy, but this other side had shocked you. Whoever this Phantom Troupe has had a massive effect on him. 

As the blonde made his way back, his eyes' red tint had started to turn back into their usual grey colour. He was walking slower, and he seemed to be exhausted.

"Are you okay, Kurapika?..." Leorio asked in a quiet tone.

"Yes. There's no single wound on me," Kurapika answered calmly.

"So is it okay for us to come near you?" he continued to ask as he took a step back for the blonde. 

"I could tell by myself." Kurapika put his hand on his forehead like he was exhausted, "I could see just by a glance that he's such an idiot. Even the tattoo. I figured out it was fake." His mouth was in a frown as his eyes trembled, and his eyebrows furrowed, he looked so pitiful yet adorable(?)- "But once I saw the spider, I saw red" you probably saw red because your literal eye colour became red! Is no one going to comment on this, or did they already know something you did? 

"I can't blame you for that." 

"To tell you the truth...even if I see a normal spider, it fills my mind with anger, and I'd lose myself to it" He seemed embarrassed as he said that, so does that mean he just punched tiny spiders vigorously?-you almost snorted, but you felt like this wasn't the time to make internal jokes. 

You watched as the blonde made his way into the hall to sit down, looking defeated. "But this also means the sense of vengeance in me hasn't faded away. It got more exciting instead." Your heart trembled, and you felt upset for whatever he was going through. Everyone watched in silence before Leorio came to a realization, as he turned to the group of inmates.

"Alright, we have three points, so we win!" Leorio pointed happily.

"Wait." A feminine robed figure made her way over to Majitani, she bent down and pressed her finger against his neck, checking for a pulse. "He's still alive. Just unconscious." 

"What are you trying to say!?" 

"Wasn't this a duel to the death? Or did you all forget?" she giggled in amusement. "So you'll have to fight until someone dies or forfeit. Therefore you still only have two points until you decide on the outcome." Leorio crossed his arms in frustration, complaining about it being ridiculous. 

"She's right though," Killua spoke, and Gon nodded in agreement. Their battles condition was to fight to the death. So Kurapika had to go back and kill the man? What a frustrating situation to be. 

"Hey Kurapika, your rival is breathing, go out there and finish him!" Way to say 'Murder them quickly' a bit cold don't you think old man?

"No, thank you" Kurapika had his eyes closed, his eyes furrowed in frustration. 

"But WHY?!" 

"The outcome was already decided, it was clear he lost his will to fight by the time I punched him," he continued, "I don't want to be cruel and take my frustrations out on him." That was very kind of the blonde, before Leorio could complain, you interrupted them.

"Let's just give them the point," you said, making everyone glance at you. "We already have two points, and we're only one away from winning anyway." problem solved.

"I'm fine with that," Killua agreed, shrugging. 

"Yeah, we're already ahead anyway!" Gon said happily. 

Leorio looked at everyone and sighed in frustration, "Fine, let's give them the point." 

Kurapika just stayed silent throughout the whole discussion; he seemed emotionally exhausted. The boisterous laughter of Majitani reached everyone's ears as he stood up and bragged about his success, making his way to his team full of arrogance. He was pitiful to look at but extremely irritating to hear. So, the inmates got one point.

The next battle, Leorio decided to face up against the cloaked woman, but you hadn't paid attention as you kept glancing at the blonde. He reminded you of a kicked puppy as he stared down at the ground. While you weren't sure of his situation or past, you wanted to cheer him up somehow. You couldn't help but walk over to sit beside the blonde. Kurapika didn't acknowledge your presence, but that was alright with you. As you both sat in silence, you hoped your company near him would make him feel less lonely. You always felt better when you had someone physically near you; whenever your dad had sat beside you while you cried over a failed recipe, you would instantly feel comforted by his presence.

He did help you twice today, and you never got to repay him, first, by saving you from an uncomfortable situation with Hisoka and then from falling into a pit. He was a pretty nice guy, so maybe you could cheer him up somehow?

A thought made it your way, it was a silly one, but you would still try it out. You searched your backpack and grabbed Ms.Gorgon and an apple. You started to carve a drawing into the apple. Once you finished, you presented it to the blonde,

"What's..that?" he asked, slowly looking at the apple, still seeming tired.

"It's a spider. You can take your frustration out on it." you were kind enough to give Kurapika an outlet to let out his frustrations, and since apparently, he hated spiders, you carved one into the apple. He could eat it, throw it or even punch it-whatever he'd like! Now your drawing skills weren't good especially with a knife, but a spider was a pretty easy thing to carve!-

"That..." was that a snort? "looks more like an amoeba." 

"No no, it's a spider, see?" you pointed out the twelve very mismatched fat legs. "Anyways, you can take your anger out on it" Kurapika stared at the apple before looking at you, something clicking in his mind as his mouth formed into a gentle smile. His eyebrows no longer furrowed. 

"Thank you," he whispered, his gaze felt intense. He took the apple from your hands, and his fingertips felt like they had burnt you. He stared down at your attempted drawing with an amused smile before biting into it. As you sat beside him, you wondered why his eyes could turn red or why he was aiming for vengeance. The will to stay away from Kurapika was thrown out the window alongside your pride since you realized you just wanted to know more about him. You asked the number one question on your mind.

"Why...did your eyes turn red?" you weren't sure if you had made him further upset as he tensed up mid-bite. Staring at the blonde's eyes, you realized they weren't grey; they were tinted brown. While the scarlet eyes you had gotten a glimpse of were beautiful, Kurapika's regular eye colour was equally majestic, in your opinion. 

"You don't know?" He glanced at you in shock, and you shook your head, how were you supposed to know? "So your claim to have visited the Kurta village was false?" the suspicion crept upon his voice as he lowered the apple. 

"No, I did!" you quickly said, "But I was really young. My father is a Gourmet Hunter, so he had gotten special permission to receive some herbs from the clan elder. He just let me tag along," You thought back to it; Kurta clan was isolated from the rest of the world, the village was located in the middle of a jungle, there was greenery and all sorts of rare flowers everywhere, it had been a gorgeous sight. You'd like to revisit it someday. 

"To be honest, I hadn't believed you when you first had said that-" ah, when you first spoke to him in phase one "-but, that explains why you were able to get inside. We wouldn't let anyone from the outside in that easily. Your father must be a prominent figure, or had some connection with the clan elder, I assume." he continued to speak, as he put one hand against his eyes. "But you haven't heard about our eyes or what happened?" You shook your head.

"The people in my clan, our eyes turn a scarlet shade when we feel intense emotions. We managed to hide it from the outside world, the elder knew if the news had leaked of our location, we would get targetted for our scarlet eyes." he looked away, closing his eyes and resting his head against the brick wall behind him, he continued dejected. "Four years ago, a band of thieves known as the Phantom Troupe killed my people. I'm the sole survivor of the Kurta clan." He opened his eyes, and his gaze felt empty as he stared at the ceiling. "That's why I'm becoming a bounty hunter. I'm going to avenge them." It was like he was reminding himself of his resolve. Everything just felt too intense, and you continued to sit beside him in silence, entangled in a thick grim atmosphere. 

Sole survivor? That would mean all his family, his friends and his people were gone. You felt a crash of realization when you thought back to his words from today. Could he have recognized himself in you, when he said you were lonely? That just made the painful feeling in your heart worse. You wanted to cry for the loss of the place you had once visited in your childhood; you remember how kind and welcoming they were to your father and you. But mostly you wanted to cry for the blonde. No wonder he had such a massive reaction to Majitani's claim to be a Phantom Troupe member. You had thought he was the type always to be surrounded by friends and family at all times, but he had faced loneliness far more significant than yours. You weren't sure if you could do anything to comfort the sadness that the blonde expressed, and you knew there was nothing you could say to lighten the mood. He slowly got up to make his way over to watch with the other two boys. You still sat against the wall, the red apple on the ground, long forgotten by the blonde.

You missed out on most of Leorio's battle as you were still shell-shocked at the revelation. But apparently, he had bet ten hours that the woman inmate was a man, why the hell would he do that? And then he lost in a game of rock paper scissors, and now the inmates had another point—two points against two. So much for being in the lead. He apologized when he made his way back, and you couldn't dislike or blame him since Leorio was kind to you from the beginning, even if he did overreact to everything. You joined the group right as he came back. 

"So we're finally at the final round," Killua announced one hand in his pocket. Say that five times fast, and you got a tongue twister. "All right, I'll be back soon." he sounded like he would finish his battle in a heartbeat, you wondered what he was going to do? What if he whipped out his skateboard and started smacking the inmate, you covered a snort. Leorio overreacted and apologized to Killua while lamenting on his loss, probably feeling sorry for the boy. "This guy is pissing me off, Gon!" he pointed to Leorio, as Gon was holding him back with a nervous smile. 

Killuas opponent came out of the shadow by ripping out the brick wall with his bare hands. He had the most veiny and huge muscles, much worse than Majitani; he even had veins covering his hands. He took off his cloak, and he was as equally scary as he seemed, downcasted soulless blue eyes, scruffy blonde hair and a moustache that screamed 'DANGER.' Leorio gasped, making you turn to him. 

"That guy..." Leorio never seemed to finish his sentences.

"Do you know him?" Gon asked.

"We should just take the loss, don't fight that guy Killua!" Leorio said in a panic. 

"Why?" Killua seemed bored at his reaction.

"Johness, the Dissector. He was the most notorious killer in Zaban city. The people he killed chosen randomly, 146 people, women, men, and children, died miserably by his hand. The bodies had one thing in common; they were all killed with his bare hands. He has an extremely strong grip-hey are you listening!?" Killua was walking towards the metal bridge like he hadn't listened to a word. "There's no need to fight that psychopath, and there's always next year!" Killua wasn't listening. You quickly grabbed Killua's wrist to stop him, making him stare at your hand like it had dirtied him. You knew he didn't like you from the beginning, but you couldn't let a child get murdered brutally right in front of you.

"Leorios right. You don't have to go up against him. It's too dangerous." you said earnestly, "You have a lot of life ahead of you, so don't throw it away for this exam." his glare seemed to soften, and a small smile made it on his face. You thought you had gotten to him, and you were happy He was not as stubborn as you thought-he quickly shook you off. Okay, you spoke too soon.

"A lot of life ahead of me? Really?" he mocked, and you watched as he walked down the path, hands in his pocket. "I'll make it quick. Just watch me." Seriously this kid! Leorio stood beside you, equally frustrated.

"Leave it to him." Kurapika said, making you both glance at him, "Maybe he has a plan." The blonde didn't even seem worried. 

"He's just a child, Kurapika!" you said, bewildered and disappointed by his response. When you were Killuas age, you cried over really dumb things, and there was no plan in your childish mind other than to have fun. What kind of plan will he have against a psychopath?!

"You're just underestimating him." Kurapika crossed his arms, and you felt annoyance build-up by his response. You avoided looking or responding to him. Seriously, this guy was making you go through a rollercoaster of emotions in such a short period of knowing him. You looked to Gon for his reaction, since he seemed to be closest to Killua. The boy was watching intently; you couldn't decipher his exact emotions. He appeared serious for once, which didn't suit the happy-go-lucky boy. 

"How would you like to do this?" Killuas voice snapped you out of your musing, and you looked to see him standing just a couple feet away from the psychopath, casually. 

"Do this? Don't get the wrong idea. This will be a one-sided massacre" the inmate stated with a quiet baritone voice, his hand was twitching beside him like he couldn't wait to grab something. "I don't care about the exam or reducing my sentence. I just want to hear you scream." 

"Is that so?....okay then the one who dies loses." You didn't want to watch this, it was too cruel, but you couldn't look away. 

The inmate blinked once, seeming a bit confused by the casual voice of the boy. "That's right." he reached out his hand "I will-" Did Killua just light up blue? "-tear your corpse to pieces anyway-" suddenly, Killua was already walking behind the man. What just happened? Did he teleport? The inmate was shaking in pain, and you noticed that he had a deep wound around his chest area. "W-what happened... why do I feel... so cold." he was clutching his chest heaving. Killua turned around to reveal a bloody brown pouch, no that was a piece of the guy's shirt, something inside it seemed to beat, and the outline was familiar. It dawned on you. It was a heart.

Killua ripped out the guy's heart with his bare hands. 

"That's my" the inmate slowly reached for Killua. "Give it back-" he rasped out as he collapsed with his arm reaching for his heart. Killua casually put the pouch in the palm of the lifeless man's hand. I mean, he did give it back at least? Even though you were internally making a joke, you were a bit traumatized to have witnessed someone get murdered. With that, the scoreboard on the wall beeped, and it had updated from 2 to 3 for your teams win.

Killua looked at the inmate with the scar, the one you had battled."That's three wins and two losses for us. We can move on, right?"

"Yes...you've won." the inmate was sweating. This time, it wasn't because of some spicy peppers. 

"Come to think of it...you wanted a death match before" Killuas voice seemed cold as he looked at the man, " You must have been disappointed" Alright, a slight jab at you, "Why don't you play with me for a while?"

"I'll...pass." fear evident in his voice.

"How boring" he turned around to make his way back, looking like he had just gone on a stroll and not KILLED A MAN. 

"What...is he?" Leorio asked, astonished. You were on the same boat as him.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Gon asked, turning to him with wide eyes, "Killua comes from an elite family of assassins." WHAT AND WHAT?! How exactly were we supposed to know that kid?! Also, did Killua hint at killing you in the hallway?! 

"I'm back." Killua announced casually, startling Leorio with his quick appearance, Leorio was sweating as he received a curious look from Killua, "What is it?"

"W-well good work out there!" Leorio stuttered out. You just watched; still, a bit shocked by the turnout. So Kurapika was right; you did underestimate Killua. You glanced at the blonde who looked to be deep in thought as he stared at the boy, feeling a need to apologize for thinking he was some heartless monster. But at the same time, it's not like you said anything out loud or argued with him so that it would be pointless. 

There was a loud rumble, and you all looked to see one of the wall sections on the left side started to lift, revealing a door, and another metallic bridge extended to it slowly.

"Once you cross the bridge, you will find a small room" Lippos voice came back on the announcement, "You will spend the ten hours you've waged in there." Everyone looked at Leorio, who nervously scratched the back of his head. 

The five of you made your way inside the room; it was quite spacious with a bookshelf filled with different kinds of books, mini-fridge, a couch and two sofas, and a table with a teapot on top of it. Of course, you went straight for the fridge to see what they provided you all with. It only had bottles of water which filled you with disappointment. 

"Killua, how did you do that?" Kurapika asked the boy. You stayed crouched down in front of the fridge as you listened in. "You removed the opponent's heart in a split second."

"That wasn't even a technique." Ripping out someone's heart in a second wasn't considered a technique to him? This kid was on a whole different level. "I just ripped it out," his gaze went cold as his fingernails started to sharpen, and ew was that veins all over? "Even though he's a serial killer, he's just an amateur," he should have said that sentence in the past tense, but you didn't dare correct him. Killua continued to talk about how if it were his dad, there wouldn't even be a stain of blood-and you thought your mom was scary.

An hour in and you were giving your chainsaw-name still pending-a deep cleaning on the table, as you absentmindedly people watched. Killua and Gon were flipping through the television, talking happily, Leorio was resting on the couch, and Kurapika was reading on the sofa.

"Oh gross-" you looked at the white-haired boy as he watched the television screen, "-ugh only women like this-"

"Yeah, my Aunt Mito really likes this series!" Gon said, happily agreeing. You were intrigued by Killua's claim, so you decided to see what you were supposed to like. The screen showed a woman crying in a man's arms, proclaiming her love for him. 

"What is that?" You sat beside them. They gave you a curious look at your question.

"It's a romance drama." Killua answered, "All they do is cry and make out."

"Oh, what's the point of it?" And why were you supposed to like this? 

"You've never seen a drama before?" Gon was the one to ask that. 

"No, I haven't," you continued, "My whole life has always revolved around cooking, to be honest. So I didn't pay much attention to other things." 

"You must really love cooking then!" 

"I'd have no purpose without it," you answered absent-mindedly as you watched the drama.

There was a scene in the drama where the main actress almost fell down a flight of stairs. But the main lead caught her. Your heart thumped loudly in your chest at the familiar scene. This was the same thing that happened to you with Kurapika; you quickly glanced at the blonde. He had his legs crossed as he read his book, half lid eyes and a small frown. Could that incident have been considered a romantic gesture? 

You felt someone staring, and you looked at the curious blue eyes of Killua.

"What?" You asked, confused by his sudden interest in you. He hummed under his breath before speaking.

"Nothing." That didn't seem like nothing, but whatever. 

You spent the next two hours watching the drama with the two boys. You think Killua, despite his protests and complaints throughout the drama, secretly was enjoying it. Surprisingly, so were you. It seemed the drama really captured everyone's emotions well, and the main actress really sought out for the main lead. 

You wouldn't have even considered watching something like this alone, but it felt more enjoyable with company. Too bad, once this phase was over, you wouldn't be part of their group anymore. It was nice to have had others around you, especially with such unique personalities, they were fun. 

"What are you guys watching?" Kurapika stood behind you, looking at the screen. 

"A romance drama, wanna watch with us?" Gon looked up at him with a grin. 

"Oh." His expression turned from intrigue to disinterest real quick. "No thank you." He was about to turn away, but Killua interjected. 

"So, you're not interested in romance..." did he just glance at you? "How come?" The blonde sighed deeply like the question had tired him out instantly. 

"It's ridiculous and pointless." 

You felt your heart drop.


End file.
